New York Yankees

And, they are just 24-23 since April 29th. Hey, the numbers don’t lie…

NEW YORK (AP) — Hanley Ramirez capped a six-hit day with a pair of RBI singles, Yasiel Puig homered to complete a dazzling debut in New York and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Yankees 6-0 Wednesday for a split of their day-night doubleheader. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – New York Yankees News

It’s tough to sweep a doubleheader, but it’s also tough to not get greedy and hope for that sweep after the Yankees took the first game on Wednesday afternoon. The Dodgers earned the doubleheader split on Wednesday night with a 6-0 win, a game that knocked New York’s run differential down to an even zero on the season — 276 runs scored, 276 runs allowed. The surest sign of mediocrity. (Presswire) Another Dud For the third time in four June starts, Phil Hughes failed to put up something that even resembled a good start. Your definition of a “good start” may vary, but I think we can all agree on that. The Dodgers had four hits and two runs before Phil recorded his first out, and through five innings of work he allowed five runs on ten hits (two doubles and eight singles) and 80 total pitches. Hughes went to a two-strike count on eleven of 28 hitters faced and five ended up with base hits. Three struck out. That’s bad. His night ended after six innings of five-run ball. We’re pretty close to the halfway point of the season and it’s clear Hughes is the weak link in the rotation. That’s not exactly breaking news. Vidal Nuno is still on the Triple-A DL and Michael Pineda is a little less than three weeks away from completing his rehab assignment, so the only alternative at the moment is Ivan Nova. I guess they could pull Adam Warren out of the bullpen, but I don’t really like that idea. He’s fine right where he is. I have no faith in Nova — he’s been good in three Triple-A starts so far, to be fair — so Phil has three weeks at the most to show he belongs in the rotation. If he shows no improvement, like real tangible improvement and not just two or three okay starts, the Yankees have to stick him in the bullpen and go with someone else, his impending free agency be damned. Hughes has made his bed and the lineup is too weak to deal with these type of performances every five days. No Use For An Offense After scoring six runs in each of their last two games, the Yankees got back to their roots on Wednesday night and were shut out for the sixth time this season. This was their 71st game. They were shut out six times in 162 games last summer, for comparison. That shouldn’t be a surprise though, it’s really hard to take this lineup seriously when it features Jayson Nix batting second, Vernon Wells batting cleanup, and Thomas Neal batting fifth. At some point the front office will show some urgency and get another bat or three. At least I hope. Cy Capuano. (AP/Frank Franklin II) The Yankees put a total of four men on base in the entire game: a Lyle Overbay (!) infield single, a Nix infield single, and a Robinson Cano legitimate line drive single to the outfield. Robbie was thrown out trying to stretch it into the double though, so it might as well be a fly out in the box score. Nix took a pitch to the ribs with two outs in the ninth and that was it, that’s the offense. Two runners managed to go beyond first base — Nix went first-to-third on Cano’s single, then he took second on a defensive indifference in the ninth — and 17 of the final 18 men they sent to the plate made outs. Believe it or not, the Yankees are now averaging 3.64 runs per game at Yankee Stadium and 4.12 runs per game on the road. Half-a-run per game difference! Leftovers Warren was nice enough to pick up Hughes and allow the #obligatoryhomer to the first batter he faced, on the first pitch no less. On the bright side, he was the only Yankees pitcher to retire Hanley Ramirez on Wednesday. Hanley went 4-for-4 during game one and 2-for-4 in game two. Warren picked up the bullpen in the second game of the doubleheader by soaking up the final three innings. He allowed just the one run. I’m not sure what else to put here. Wells went 0-for-3 and is down to .224/.266/.372 (70 wRC+) for the season. It’s just a slump though, he’ll turn it ar

According to Josh Norris, C Gary Sanchez will likely have to wait a few more weeks before being promoted to Double-A Trenton. The Yankees want him to catch all the hard-throwers on the High-A Tampa pitching staff so he can work on his ability to receive big velocity. Triple-A Scranton (10-7 win over Rochester) 2B Walt Ibarra: 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K C J.R. Murphy: 3-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI – second straight game with a homer gives him eight on the year, one set of his career-high set last season RF Fernando Martinez: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 HBP — organizational debut CF Cody Grice: 2-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI – career game for the guy who was called up from High-A Tampa as an emergency fill-in due to the injuries RHP Jose Ramirez: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HB, 4/1 GB/FB — 44 of 74 pitches were strikes (59%) … it’s almost like he isn’t ready for this leave after only 42.1 innings at Double-A RHP Dellin Betances: 3 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 1/5 GB/FB — 24 of 43 pitches were strikes (56%) … another positive sign Double-A Trenton (5-3 win over Akron) LF Ramon Flores: 1-5, 1 K — threw a runner out at the plate CF Slade Heathcott: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB — 19 hits in his last 62 at-bats (.306) RF Tyler Austin: 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP 2B Jose Pirela: 2-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB RHP Shane Greene: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 7/2 GB/FB — 57 of 83 pitches were strikes (69%) … his Double-A debut (finally) LHP Cesar Cabral: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0/1 GB/FB — 24 of 38 pitches were strikes (63%) … first scoreless outing in more than three weeks LHP Jeremy Bleich: 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/2 GB/FB — 21 of 33 pitches were strikes (64%) … three runs allowed in his last 18.1 innings (1.47 ERA) High-A Tampa (8-4 loss to Dunedin) still no CF Mason Williams, but he has not been placed on the DL as of yet CF Ben Gamel: 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K — 15 hits in his last 36 at-bats (.417) with two doubles, two triples, and two homers DH Rob Refsnyder & 2B Angelo Gumbs: both 0-4 — Refsnyder struck out RF Yeral Sanchez: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B 1B Saxon Butler: 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K RHP Corey Black: 3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 WP, 1 HB, 4/1 GB/FB — second start off the DL, second time he struggles with his control RHP Taylor Garrison: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2/2 GB/FB Low-A Charleston is off until tomorrow for the All-Star break. Short Season Staten Island (5-2 win over Brooklyn) 2B Derek Toadvine: 2-3, 1 R, 1 BB LF Michael O’Neill: 1-4, 1 K CF Brandon Thomas: 0-4, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB DH Kale Sumner: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K — this is 32nd rounder Chaunsey Sumner, though apparently he prefers Kale RHP Jairo Heredia: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 4/3 GB/FB — completely forgot he existed RHP Stefan Lopez: 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2/0 GB/FB Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blogMurphy homers again in Triple-A win

Perhaps the best part of this game was Jason Kidd throwing out the first pitch. A nice gesture by the Yankees to honor the future NBA hall of famer and new Brooklyn Nets head coach. And there's also the fact that his pitching tonight was better than the guy the Yankees are paying. Phil Hughes was bad. Again. Right from the first inning on he didn't have it. Back to back RBI singles by Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez put the Dodgers up 2-0 before he even recorded an out. The Dodgers got five hits in the first inning, and continued to knock Phil Hughes around throughout the game. Andre Ethier picked up an RBI double in the third and the Dodgers got two more in the fifth, via another RBI single by Ramirez and then a sac fly by Jerry Hairston. Phil Hughes' final line tonight: Six innings, ten hits, five runs (all earned) and three strikeouts. If you want to look for a positive, it's that he didn't walk anybody and that he didn't give up a home run. Not much positive to look for in Phil Hughes these days. Adam Warren relieved Hughes in the seventh and gave up a home run to the Dodgers Cuban phenom Yasiel Puig. Puig continued his ridiculous start to his major league career with a 2-4 night. That raised his batting average to .474 in over 50 ABs. Why can't the Yankees have someone like this? Speaking of the Yankees, they apparently used all of their offensive ability in game one, as they were completely absent tonight. Clayton Kershaw Chris Capuano came back from his injury to throw six shutout innings, allowing just three hits. Yes, this is the same Chris Capuano that came into this game with a 5.45 ERA. He gave up five runs in two innings to the San Diego Padres once this season. But none of that mattered tonight. The only time the Yankees even looked like they may get something going offensively was in the fourth. Jayson Nix led off with an infield single and Robinson Cano hit what looked like a double into the right center field gap. Except Andre Ethier made a perfect throw to nail Cano at second base. Vernon Wells then popped out to center (surprise to no one), and Thomas Neal flew out to strand Nix at third. Chris Withrow and Brandon League combined to throw the final three innings, holding the Yankees hitless and sealing the win. Game Notes: Zoilo Almonte made his major league debut tonight, pinch hitting for Austin Romine in the ninth. He grounded out sharply to third, although to be honest that may have been the hardest hit Yankee ball of the night. Almonte was originally expected to start the game, but Girardi opted to to with Vernon Wells and Thomas Neal in the lineup instead. If you can think of a good reason for this, please let me know. Because I can't think of one. Speaking of Austin Romine, he is one of the worst hitters Yankees history with a minimum of 70 plate appearances. Vernon Wells has not homered since May 15th. On that day, he had a .301/.357/.538 line. It was at .230/.273/.383 coming into this game. After another 0-3 those will go down even more. Talk about falling off a cliff. Hurry back Grandy. The Yankees just were never in this one from the start. Andy Pettitte will get the ball tomorrow night as they look to rebound against Matt Moore and the Tampa Bay Rays. Box Score. More from Pinstriped Bible: Defining and identifying Yankee aces Biogenesis: Likely suspensions and Alex Rodriguez Game One recap: Wild inning assists victory Closing the Pinstriped Bible

James Gandolfini, 51. But also, Dave Jennings. And Slim Whitman. Mournful day for sure.

Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch. Phil Hughes did not pitch well. Again. Got behind hitters and when he had to throw a strike they hit it hard; got ahead of hitters and couldn’t put them away. What we’ve come to expect from Hughes. Chris Capuano, on the other hand, throws slop but knows what he’s doing, showed good control and mastered the Yankee hitters as the Dodgers won an uneventful game, 6-0. The one guy that is an event–Mr. Puig–stole a base, had a couple of hits including a homer, scored 3 times and made it easy to understand what all the fuss is about. [Photo Credit: Matthew Schenning]

Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, three RBI and two runs scored to pace the New York Yankees in a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a day-night doubleheader. Read more Ichiro Suzuki news

Hours before throwing the first pitch prior to the nightcap of Wednesday's twin bill between the Yankees and Dodgers, Jason Kidd reminisced about what made him confident the throw would be a success.